Phrenology head map
© Photograph by Laki Sideris, originally published in The
Old Melbourne Gaol: A History on CD-ROM, Melbourne, RMIT Publishing,
2002
Exercise 1 Reasons for committing a crime
Consider the reasons for criminal behaviour that have been suggested by researchers.
List the factors that you think might have contributed to Deeming committing his serial murders.
List some reasons why he was able to keep repeating the murders without being caught.
Exercise 2 Theories about criminals
'He looks like a real crim.' 'Look at him. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.' People say they can tell a person is a criminal just by looking at them.
In the early 1800s a theory was devised to explain criminal behaviour. Called phrenology, this theory claimed to be able to determine a person's character and personality by looking at their head shape and the bumps on their head. Different sections of the brain indicated personality and temperament. Death masks of prisoners and photographs of people's heads were used to study the theory during the nineteenth century. Phrenology remained popular until the 1950s. Children were taken to a phrenologist for career guidance. Some employers wanted a phrenological reading before employing a new person.
Phrenology evolved into a more complicated science than just feeling for bumps. Phrenologists used an instrument called a craniometer to build up a profile of the skull. It was the size of the bumps rather than the number of bumps that was important.
Deeming was such a high-profile criminal in Australia and England that many copies of his death mask were created for study and display. Some were even sent to England for research.
The internet contains a number of websites about phrenology. Many of these are quite technical. Some useful ones might include:
- Phrenology entry in Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia
- Phrenology, a pro-phrenology webpage
- Phrenology: an overview, on the Victorian Web: literature, history and culture in the age of Victoria, a more advanced website
- Phrenology entry in the online Skeptics Dictionary, for a skeptical perspective
Read the information and consider the following questions:
1. Who invented phrenology?
2. What is the difference between a 'phrenologist' and a 'criminologist'?
Key characteristics in
phrenology
Study the phrenology map of the human skull. Undertake a phrenological
reading of a friend. If the 'bump' on their skull is very large or very small,
the following characteristics may apply. Tick the characteristics you find.
- very large - loves a good time and friends, a party animal
- very small - prefers to be alone
Amativeness - love between the sexes
- very large - sexual passion, attracted to the other sex
- very small - in need of love, without love
Conjugality - monogamy, envy towards love rivals
- very large - devoted and loyal
- very small - here today, gone tomorrow!
Parental Love - good parents will do anything for their children
- very large -idolise their children
- very small - care very little for their children
Combativeness - resistance and defence. Determination, get out of my way, fault-finding, contention, bad tempered and fighting
- very large - a real hero, boldness and courage
- very small - has little energy or motivation
Destructiveness - excessiveness, force. Pain-causing faculty, disposition to break, tear down and crush
- very large - powerful indignation, amounting even to rage and violence when provoked
- very small - very gentle nature, experiences difficulty in being assertive
Look at your answers. Are these an accurate description of your friend?